Dentist in Port Charlotte Warns Patients of the Risks of Tooth Decay by Sleeping with Your Mouth Open

Taking care of your smile should be included in your everyday routine, but there is one part of the day where it’s difficult to monitor this and it’s when you’re sleeping. Everybody is familiar with waking up with bad breath, but many people don’t know what causes it and how come it happens so often. Below, your dentist in Port Charlotte talks about what happens to your teeth when you wake up with dry mouth.

Dry mouth occurs when you’re not producing enough saliva, which causes an uncomfortable feeling on your tongue, on your cheeks and on your teeth. This feeling can be temporary if you brush your teeth or drink water to rid of it and stimulate your saliva, but it’s not always that easy. Excess dry air is harmful and works against your saliva, so it becomes more difficult to protect your teeth, especially when your mouth is open while you sleep.

Your saliva has a pH level, which measures the acidity or basicity of a water-based solution. The neutral, safe number is 7; anything below that is acidic and anything about that is basic. During a night of sleep, a person’s pH level is usually a little below 7 just because your saliva isn’t being properly produced at night. When participants of a study were forced to sleep with their mouth open, their pH levels dropped down to 3.6, a dangerous number considering that any level below 5.5 will cause your teeth to lose its protective minerals.